Punching Bag
by KitKat-Pyrophobia
Summary: Step One: Insult. Step Two: Anger. Step Three: Name-Calling. Step Four: Attempt to walk away. Step Five: Coward. Step Six: More Insults. Step Seven: Hexes. Rose/Scorpius oneshot


**Disclaimer: **Own nuhhthing. Or else me and Remus and Sirius would be enjoying a very large chocolate bar right now :] (And yes, Remus would be licking the chocolate off of Sirius XP)

**A/N: **oh they're so childish in this one… and Scorpius is actually kind of awkward XP I love these two. Quite a lot. Anyways, on with the story!! Huzzah!

* * *

Rose knocked on the compartment door, and didn't bother waiting for someone to answer before she slid it open. She gave her best smile, shaking her short, curly red hair out of her eyes. "Hello, may we sit here? It's just me and my cousin Albus, and we—"

"Weasley and Potter, isn't it?" The small, platinum-blond boy sitting alone in the corner of the compartment interrupted in an almost accusing tone.

"Yes," She nodded, but didn't smile. That was very rude of him to interrupt her, she thought.

With a bitter smirk, his silvery eyes defiant, Scorpius replied, "Then no,"

Rose was taken aback to say the least. This boy was the rudest eleven-year-old she'd ever spoken to! She could only stand in the doorway, her brow furrowed and her lips slightly parted in surprise, soaking in what this boy said.

When she finally noticed the blond hair, icy gray eyes, and unmistakable smirk, it all fell into place. "Malfoy, right?"

He sat up straighter with a pompously arrogant air of importance, he said, "Yes, I am,"

"Come on Al, he might get Death Eater germs on us," She glared at the boy, who wore the same shocked expression as Rose had previously.

Yanking the door back shut so hard the glass almost shattered, Rose stormed down the corridor with anger nipping at her heels.

"Rose, I thought Mom and Dad said that you shouldn't judge people," Albus said in a small voice that matched his small look. He pushed up his square spectacles nervously, his wiry black hair sticking up in every direction.

Rose Weasley rounded on him with an expression so close to the one her mother used to use to scare her father that they suddenly looked identical, safe for the red hair.

Tall and narrow, quite like her father, Rose towered over the tiny Potter.

"I _only_ said that because he insulted me first." Her steel-blue eyes, bright with anger and excitement all at once, burned holes into the small boy.

The small boy gave a small squeak and a nod, and Rose, always with the mood swings, brightened up with an award-winning type smile and began searching for compartment again.

"The girl's mental!" exhaled Albus, once again pushing his glasses up his nose.

* * *

Not for the first time in the first week, Rose was fuming.

Detention! In her first week! It was preposterous!

She found herself muttering furiously to no one as she stalked down the hallway to the dungeons for Potions.

It was all Malfoy's fault.

How was she _supposed_ to react when he pushed her poor, mousy cousin Albus down the staircase other than to hex him?

It wasn't _her_ fault that she inherited her Aunt Ginny's talent for performing the Bat-Bogey Hex.

Thankfully, some justice was served. Malfoy had three more detentions after this one for bullying a student.

The door creaked as she walked in. Malfoy was already there, sitting at the front table, staring expressionless at Professor Slughorn, who, in Rose's honest opinion, was far too old and tired to still be teaching.

"Miss Weasley! Take a seat, please," When the professor should have been angry, he sounded almost amused.

Rose set down her books at the table closest to the door, in an attempt to stay as far away from Scorpius as possible.

"Ah, Rose," Slughorn waved her over.

Clenching her jaw, she stood back up and walked straight in front of the Potions Master.

"Here, I think," he patted the table right in front of him. The seat right next to Malfoy. Of course.

Without a glance at the now-smirking boy, she set her things on the cold stone floor and sat rigid at her seat, awaiting the assignment.

"Lines. '_I will not pick petty fights with my classmates, no matter if they were provoked or unprovoked.'_" The wrinkly man seemed joyous.

"How many times?" Rose asked pleasantly, a very menacing edge in her voice.

"Enough to fill in the time slot of two hours." With that, he whipped his too-small robes around and sat in his office. "And _no fighting_!"

Exhaling sharply, her anger surfacing again, she pulled out her quill, inkpot, and a fresh roll of parchment.

They worked in the tensest silence Rose had ever encountered for about fifteen minutes. Rose, she realized, did not like the dungeons at night whatsoever. It was freezing, even underneath her layers of clothing.

She visibly shivered as a breeze floated around her neck.

"Cold?" Malfoy whispered, not caring much, but bored out of his mind, and more than willing to pick a fight.

"Obviously," She replied quietly through gritting teeth.

"Be a man, it's not even bad," His quill moved fluidly over his parchment.

"That's because you're used to it by now… you _live_ in a dungeon,"

"Yes, actually. The Slytherin dormitories _are _in the dungeons."

"I meant your _house_," she hissed angrily at his condescending tone.

"Are you really going to insult _my_ house? I've heard all about the famous Weasley home… the Burrow, do they call it?" He sniggered, obviously enjoying some sort of personal joke.

"Yes, they call it the Burrow, and for your information, I don't _live_ there. I live in Godric's Hollow with my _parents_ not my _grandparents_ you stupid—"

"_Slughorn!"_ he breathed.

The insult dancing at the tip of her tongue, Rose promptly shut her mouth as said professor stuck his head out of his office door.

Both pretended to be giving the lines their utmost attention. Rose flushed angrily, looking intently at the parchment.

"He's gone," Scorpius confirmed, setting his quill down and leaning his chair back on two legs.

Rose, however, exhaled sharply through her nose and continued writing.

"You were saying?" he asked easily, a smile in his voice.

"I was _saying_, Malfoy, that you are a stupid, insulting, rude, unimaginable _prat_." She whipped her head around to him with a look that would have intimidated anyone but him.

"Ouch." He set his chair down with a dull '_thunk_'. "You wound me, Weasley."

She rolled her eyes in disgust.

"And don't call me 'Malfoy'. Call me 'Scorpius'." He mumbled, picking his quill back up.

"How about I just call you an arsehole?" she asked scathingly, the ghost of a smirk on her lips.

"Again, Weasley, you wound me," he rolled his eyes at his paper.

"Why?" she shot at him.

"Why do you wound me?" he asked, unsure, a single smug eyebrow rising.

"No, why do I call you 'Scorpius'?" She asked, mocking the condescending tone he loved to practice.

"'Malfoy' has a very negative connotation." He shrugged.

"Well, seeing as how I don't like you much, I think I'll stick with your surname," Rose said briskly.

"Fine, if you want to be the only person in the school calling me that," He shrugged again, casually.

"Tons of people call you 'Malfoy'."

"No, they don't."

She groaned at his defiance. "Why not?"

"When people think of the name 'Malfoy', they automatically associate it with being Death Eaters, which you have so graciously already done once." There was a hard edge in his voice.

She smirked at the memory of his shocked expression. "So?"

"I don't want to be judged because of my family's mistakes,"

The honesty in his voice surprised Rose. She didn't expect him to be straight with her at all. She sighed resentfully. "Fine, Scorpius, then,"

"One thing that _is_ genetic with Malfoys, other than shockingly good looks, of course…" He paused, flashed what she supposed was supposed to be a dazzling smile, and ran a hand through his loosely slicked-back hair.

Rose rolled her eyes so hard it was _painful_.

"… is the talent to get other people in trouble." He smiled, satisfied.

Steam felt like it was about to escape from Rose's ears. "Scorpius, have I ever told you that I hate you?" the words were muffled behind her painfully chafing teeth.

"Well, that's too bad. 'Cause I rather fancy you and think we ought to get married, right now, in Professor Slughorn's detention." His face was so expressionless as he said this that Rose didn't know whether to laugh or be disgusted.

Instead, she groaned, rolled her eyes for what felt like the thousandth time, and went back to writing her lines.

That detention was the beginning of what might have been the most public love-hate relationship between two people since the beginning of Hogwarts.

* * *

The pair had their good days and their bad ones. Mostly bad ones, of course. It amazed many people, how their mood-swings were almost _hourly_. They could, by sixth year, hold a civil, friendly, stimulating conversation.

But they could just as easily hex each other in the middle of the Great Hall so severely that they both had to go to the infirmary for days.

After six straight years of this, though, everyone was quite used to it. Even teachers didn't bother giving them detentions every time they screamed at each other in the middle of class or attempted to curse each other in the halls.

Quite the opposite, the two were forced to spend even more time with each other. They were somehow _always_ assigned to do Prefect duty together, always had to sit with each other in the classes Gryffindor and Slytherin shared.

Both of them dated a rather lot of the opposite sex in their years. Scorpius grown to be known, quite like his father, as the –ahem- go-to guy for a… _memorable_ night. There were rumors about him all the time concerning his "night life". Anyone who'd ever been with him was seen by everyone, except Rose, as someone who'd been given the rarest, most expensive Honeydukes chocolate bar of the whole lot. Rose thought that was ridiculous. If he'd really been with the number of girls the gossip claimed, there was nothing _rare_ about sleeping with him at all. She seemed to be the only girl in the school who didn't faint with ecstasy at the sight of him flipping his hair.

Rose, on the other hand, was rather inexperienced. She didn't mind the fact, much, but she also didn't advertise it. She was waiting for someone special, she decided. She wasn't just going to throw herself at the first person who offered themselves. This fact annoyed _many_ of her boyfriends, and was the reason for a good few of her breakups. She tended to be quite emotionless about breakups, surprisingly. She figured that if someone wasn't willing to accept her, they weren't worth any grief. Rose was always one of the strongest girls around, a quality that was greatly admired by Scorpius.

In short, they would have been best friends if not for the fact that they hated each other.

* * *

They were at it again. Rather early, actually, for another one of their yelling matches.

There was a foolproof pattern for every single one their fights:

**Step ****1.** One of them insults the other (usually Scorpius)

**Step ****2.** The other gets angry

**Step ****3.** One of them calls the other a name (by this point, they are yelling)

**Step ****4.** One of them tries to storm away

**Step ****5.** The other calls the other something like "coward"

**Step ****6.** They insult each other a couple of times

**Step ****7.** They hex each other

They were just beginning with step one.

"Weasley, you do know the sun is free, right? And even still, I know a few simple charms that could _really_ help your problem." He was calling her pale. Like he could even speak.

She looked straight forward from her parchment. The other people around her at the breakfast table began sniggering unsurely. Al fidgeted.

"You really think you can say anything about skin color, Malfoy?" She turned to him, where he sat down beside her. Unlike his father, Scorpius was brave enough to face someone without a couple of cronies beside him. Well, _he_ deemed it bravery. Rose swore that it was because he didn't have any friends.

"Even _you_, who have roughly the same amount of intelligence as a common garden gnome, can come up with a better insult than that." Preparing for a fight, she stuffed her parchment into her canvas bag.

"Says the girl who got a P on her Transfiguration O.W.L.? I think the Ministry tester was just being gracious because of who your parents are. You _obviously_ deserved 'Troll'." He leaned forward on his elbows, obviously enjoying this. His usually cold, lifeless gray eyes lit up with joy.

Rose decided it was much too early for him and his insults. Pulling the strap of her bag over her shoulder, she stood up from the long table, "accidentally" knocking over a goblet of pumpkin juice onto Malfoy's arms as she stood.

"Wow, Potter, for a Gryffindor, your cousin sure is a coward," He said loudly to Albus.

Rose stopped dead in her tracks, apparently hearing him. Noticing this, he stood up and walked over to her.

"I swear… it's too early for your nonsense." She closed her eyes, trying to fight off a headache that sprung up without warning.

"Sorry, I forgot _fragile_ little Rosie couldn't handle me in the mornings," he swung his arm around her shoulders as they began to walk. They weren't even halfway down the Great Hall.

She agitatedly shrugged his arm off. "Malfoy, _go away_."

"Scorpius, you mean," He looked her dead in the eye, turning to face her. His face held a satisfied half-smile he desperately tried to play off as one of his smirks.

"You know what, _Malfoy_? You say you don't want to be judged by your family?" She snorted. "Well, if you don't want to be seen as an arrogant, cocky, Death-Eating _wanker_, then don't act like one all the time."

His smile disappeared from his face more quickly than anyone ever thought was possible.

There were mutters all around them. This was rather serious. Rather than their usual shouting match, Rose had said this last sentence in hardly more than a whisper. She was _really_ angry this time. It wasn't another one of their petty little fights…

Head held high, she marched to the end of the Great Hall, wrenching the doors open, and ultimately disappearing from sight.

Scorpius could do nothing but stand there, dumbstruck.

* * *

Scorpius really didn't deserve that, Rose knew. He'd actually been relatively nice to her the past few days.

It wasn't _his_ fault that she found out her boyfriend was cheating on her.

As abovementioned, this girl was a pro at sparing not a single emotion for boys who broke up with her.

However, she'd never been cheated on before.

She didn't know where her emotionally-charged feet were taking her, and somehow she ended up in a corridor right behind the Greenhouses. There was actually a very pretty from here, she realized soon enough. Professor Longbottom generally liked to display the nicer-looking plants along the edges of the greenhouses, so people wouldn't be scared away.

She sank down on the ground reflexively next to the wall. Drawing her knees to her chest, her entire head-region felt hot. Her eyes, her cheeks, her throat. She closed her eyes, leaning her head back on the cool, stone wall. It wasn't comfortable, but comfort wasn't really what she was looking for.

Behind her taut eyelids, moisture threatened to seep underneath the lids and down her face. The redhead groaned. This was _exactly_ what she had been dreading in second year when she decided to take her studies seriously, and ignore the male population altogether.

_That_ worked out well.

She felt her retinas burning. Sunlight was streaming in through the high windows directly in front of her, and it was bright even behind her eyelids. The light wasn't doing much to help the containment of tears.

"Don't cry. He's not worth it." Her motto was spoken in a deep, echoing type of voice from somewhere to the left of her.

Three guesses who said it.

She groaned, and squeezed her eyes together more tightly. "Go away. I don't have the energy for this."

There was a soft rustling of robes, and Scorpius sat down next to her, almost unnecessarily close.

Rose couldn't help but feel a lot warmer as soon as he was next to her.

There was a slightly tense silence. Scorpius was still hurt over what she said, even though he knew she didn't mean it. Rose was still trying to block out her own emotions.

"So did he at least have the decency to break up with you?" Scorpius broke the silence, speaking quietly.

"Yeah, last night," she whispered. Her voice sounded strained.

"That was a horrible thing that he did." He declared.

"You'd know all about it, wouldn't you?" She asked scathingly, for the second time saying something she didn't mean.

"Why do you always do that, Rose?" Scorpius's brow furrowed, his voice exhausted.

"Do what?"

"Accuse me of the most awful things… make me feel less than dirt."

"Because you're the only person strong enough to let me hurt you," She whispered, the words falling from her lips before she could control or even make sense of them.

"So, I'm your punching bag now, huh?" A smile laced his words. A real smile. Not a cold smirk.

She could only manage a small smile. Her neck was beginning to ache from the position she'd been in. Gingerly, she leaned it forward, laying her cheek on her knees. If her eyes were open, she would see the softest expression Scorpius Malfoy had ever worn.

He sighed easily. She was so pretty when she was sad… or mad… or happy…

He could hardly control his arm as it wrapped itself protectively around her shoulders.

He couldn't have asked for more as she laid her head on his shoulder and sighed.

There was another silence, but this time a content one. For a reason she couldn't fathom, she felt safe here with Scorpius.

"Have you ever done it?" She asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.

"What do you mean, 'done it'?" He asked, his insides beginning to squirm.

"I mean cheated… I _know_ you've… you know… _done it_…" He could feel the awkwardness in her body.

He smiled, and closed his eyes, mentally preparing himself. "No, I've never cheated."

She relaxed again, snuggling a little closer to him, if that was even possible. "Good,"

"I've also never… _done it_," Some evil force jumped down his throat and pulled those words out. He'd never told _anyone_ that. When people asked about it, he craftily avoided the question, and let people draw their own conclusions. Girls who claimed him just liked the attention.

"Wait… what?" Her brow furrowed as she carefully opened her eyes for the first time.

"I've… never… shagged anyone." He shrugged in a way that he hoped was nonchalant.

"But all the girls said—" she began.

"Girls like attention," he cut her off gently.

"Wow. The famous Slytherin Sex God Scorpius Malfoy is… a virgin." She couldn't help but smile a bit at this. It felt warm, to know this, like a small void in her had been suddenly filled.

"Bugger off, Rose," He contradicted his words by squeezing her tighter.

Laughing, she let her head fall off his shoulder. Carefully positioning herself, she adjusted so that her head lay in his lap. She much preferred this. She could see his face.

And he did have a very nice face, when his pointy little nose wasn't turned up at something.

He, on the other hand, felt the slightest bit awkward. "Why'd you move?" He asked playfully.

"So I can see you. Because, even for a self-centered prat, you are actually very pretty," She smiled softly.

"Pretty," he scoffed. The most feminine word in the English language, and she had to use it to describe him. Even still, there was a strange fluttery type feeling in the pit of his stomach that usually happened around her.

"Scorpius, now that you're being civil, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead," he waved his hand in mock-boredom.

"Why _are_ you such a prat?" It was an actual, genuine question.

"Am I being one now?" He challenged.

"No, but I mean usually." She rolled her eyes.

"Am I one when we're on our patrol?"

"No, I mean around other people."

"An act only works on an audience," He said simply, and then looked down at her with a smile that shattered and melted her heart all at once.

"You are…" she searched for the words. Amazing, incredible, stunning, perfect… none of these sounded quite accurate. "… _such_ a tosser!"

"Says you," He laughed at her sentiment.

Sighing peacefully, she closed her eyes again. Scorpius was right. No dumb sixteen-year-old boy was worth her tears, or even her thoughts.

Well, maybe _one_ boy…

One of the many thoughts that were flashing through Scorpius's hectic mind was how nice it was to be nice to her. One of his top fears was to say something one day that would actually really hurt the girl in his lap, and cause her to not want to speak to him anymore. Though they got in petty little arguments daily, he didn't _want_ to imagine a world where she didn't give him her undivided attention at least once a day.

He never really considered that being nice would get her attention, too.

"Scorpius?"

"Hmm?" He said, absentmindedly stroking her hair. He briefly wondered when he started doing that… it felt soft in his hands.

"Why do we hate each other?" She held back a small shiver as his cold hands ran through her hair. It felt much too nice, this simple gesture.

"_I_ don't hate _you_, but if that's how you feel…" he smirked.

"We fight too much. Why do you always insult me?"

"To get your attention,"

Her heart stuttered. "Well, now that you _have_ my attention, why don't you try saying something _nice_ for once?" She grumbled, not really expecting him to say anything.

He racked his brains for the perfect thing to say. This brief pause in conversation left a slightly heavy silence over them.

"Well, now that I have your attention," He began slowly, unsurely, stumbling slightly over his next words. "You're beautiful, and I think I'm in love with you,"

Rose's eyes snapped open. _Way to play things cool_, she thought dryly. She carefully closed her eyes again, trying to stop her heart from breaking one of her ribs. "Very funny, Scorpius,"

"Not joking, Rose,"

"Yes, you are," She furrowed her brow and opened her eyes again to look at him. The look in his eyes startled her. His usually dull, bored gray eyes were suddenly alive with emotion, and if she looked closely enough, she could just make out honesty, excitement, and nervousness in the bright, silver depths. And he was blushing. _Blushing!_ In the six years of knowing him, Rose had _never_ seen any sort of color in his pale cheeks. Not even a light flush ever crossed his cheeks. And now there was a rather nice, baby pink type color meandering on his high cheekbones.

"Why?" he asked, slightly amused.

"Because you're never _in love_ with anybody. You date girls for fun; you're never actually _serious_ about anyone."

"Except you, of course,"

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously at his casual tone. "Why?"

"You're _really_ asking me why I love you?" He challenged, one eyebrow raised.

"Yes, Scorpius, I'm _really_ asking you why you _say_ you love me." She mocked his tone.

"Fine, but don't let it ruin your opinion of me," He gave one more smug smile as he prepared his full confession, full of corny lines and clichés alike.

She waited patiently, a haughty sort of smile on her face.

He exhaled, and looked pointedly forward at the greenhouses. "You're a Weasley. You're a half-blood. You're annoying, and stuck-up, and a know-it-all. You're not as smart as you let on, but you always have an insult ready when we fight." He paused, but didn't dare glance at her. He knew that she would look angry, as nothing he just said was nice at all, and none of it answered her question the way she wanted, even though every word he said had everything to do with why he loved her.

"You're gorgeous, whether you think so or not. Your hair is soft, and your eyes are always excited. Your mouth is _enticing_. You're small, and adorable, and you fit against me perfectly.

"You're nice to _everyone_; you don't judge people by rumors, and you treat everyone the same, no matter who they are. You're clever, even if you're not Hermione Granger. You are tactful, and know the right thing to say, and what to say to piss me off. You're always happy, and it's infectious. You're selfless, and care about people. You're devious, and you use the fact that you're innocent and charming to your advantage. You're loyal, and brave, and strong. You have a sense of humor, and you don't act like every day is the end of the world.

"You make me smile like an idiot when I think about you, which is all the bloody time. I insult you to get a rouse from you, because I love the look in your eyes when we fight. I get jealous when you talk about boys, and you make me want to hex them until they can't _think _about you. You're the only person who can make my heart beat faster, or make me trip over my words. You make me feel self-conscious about everything I do. When you're around, you're the only one that matters. I get bored with other girls because I _know_ you're the only one I want. It makes me happy just to be able to see you, or touch you, watch you laugh. You make me my breath stop when I see you smile. No matter what's going on, I feel happy if I'm near you." He paused, and looked down at her for the first time. Her mouth was hanging slightly open, a bewildered expression on her face. Clearing his throat slightly, trying to regain his air of overconfidence, he finished somewhat lamely, "And _that_ is why I say that I love you,"

Rose attempted to speak several times, but her breath caught in her throat every time she tried. His words were, to put it lightly, shocking. After six years of yelling, insulting, and hexing a person, it was hard to immediately soak in the fact that he just gave you a full-out, detailed love confession.

After her mind finally caught up with the times, she registered the fact that he was probably feeling somewhat humiliated at pouring his heart out. She blushed crimson.

"Wow," was all she managed to choke out. She knew it would be awkward, and cause his outrageously-high self-esteem to drop down a few notches.

"Well, you wanted the reason, and there it is, so I'd best be going," His pink face was even darker now as he made to stand up, gently moving Rose's still-in-shock head from his legs.

It took her until he'd taken a few flustered steps down the hall that she snapped out of it, and clambered up to her feet. "Wait!" she said.

He stopped and looked back at her. Though he tried to mask it with indifference, there was a look of hopefulness on his face. The fact that she'd had no reaction to his words stung him, leaving his heart feeling awfully empty.

Not quite knowing what to say again, she opened her mouth and closed it a couple of times, the excited look on his face dropping gradually. Deciding that words weren't going to work with her, she walked forward and closed the gap in between their bodies. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she laid her head down on his chest.

His breath caught at the gesture, and the feel of her body once again against his; he held her waist tightly.

"Don't go," She said quietly, as he rested his chin gently on the top of her head.

His head was spinning, and he was slowly getting dizzy from her sweet scent.

She was feeling the same as he was. Her heart was stuttering erratically, and she vaguely wondered why she wasn't dead yet. She couldn't believe how shy he was suddenly acting; it was adorable, a new side of him that he never showed… or maybe it was an old side that she'd just never noticed…

Pulling back slightly, her breath stopped as she saw his face. He looked serene, truly happy for once. She could only manage a small, nervous smile up at him.

Seeing his opportunity, he smoothly reached his hand up, and ran it through her wavy hair. He pulled it around, where it cradled her jaw line. Biting his lip uncertainly, not wanting to push her, his eyes flickered from her gorgeous blue ones to her pink, slightly parted lips.

As though confirming his request, her heart still pounding, she fluttered her eyes closed.

Exhaling, he bent down and gently pressed his lips on top of hers.

It felt as if someone had set off fireworks. The moment she felt his lips against hers, she saw bright lights behind her lids, and they had nothing to do with the fact that they were in front of a bright window. There was a sudden feeling as if there was a lingering static shock, which gave them both drive and energy, and the electricity was mirrored in both of them as their hesitant kiss grew into a feverish sort of frantic one that clearly conveyed all of the tension that had been between them since year one.

It ended much too soon, in Rose's opinion.

Scorpius looked down in wonder at the girl, whose hands were still knotted in his hair, who had a small smile on her slightly swollen lips, and a certain brightness behind her closed eyes. That was easily the best kiss of his life, if not the deepest, the most passionate or hungry or desperate. There was actual emotion behind that one. Feelings, he decided, meant much more than technique did.

She opened her eyes slowly, looking straight into his. They were cloudy with an emotion she only knew as ecstasy. That was reflected in his.

With a wide grin, he pulled her into his arms again, embracing her tightly.

"I love you too, Scorpius,"

* * *

**Step one.** "You know, for having a boyfriend so skillful at it, you would think you'd be better at kissing by now," He lounged on the floor next to her chair in the Gryffindor Common Room, where he wasn't _really_ supposed to be at all.

**Step two. **"Scorpius, your idiocy amazes me," Rose glared at him, snapping shut the book she was trying to read, and standing up from the squashy armchair.

**Step three.** "I'm an idiot? Well, you're just a red-haired Gryffindor nutter,"

**Step four.** She got up, taking all of her things with her, preparing to leave the common room.

**Step five.** "You sure you weren't supposed to be in Hufflepuff? I thought Gryffindors were supposed to be _brave_," He called after her as she was just about to get through the portrait hole. He stood up casually, his hands in his pockets.

**Step six.** She closes her eyes, frustrated, and exhales a sharp breath. "You know, _Malfoy_, you're looking more girly than ever with your hair like that. Perhaps I can _hex_ it off for you?" She asked with a cutting tongue as she felt him stroll up behind her. They were but feet away from her escape.

"Rose, you know you love my hair like this," He smirked, and leaned in close to her ear. "What else would you have to grab onto?"

The feel of his lips in her ear and the coolness of his breath had her suppressing a shiver. "You're ridiculous, Scorpius," She said, fighting to keep her words and her heartbeat even.

"You're unbelievable, Rose," He backed up just slightly, so their faces were inches apart.

She glared at him, a look of pure loathing etched in her features.

He glared at her, a look of feigned anger and pure amusement on his face.

**Step… seven?** "Well, Scorpius, _you_ are—" She was suddenly cut off by a hand on the back of her head, pushing her mouth towards his. Suddenly, the insult she was preparing got lost, as well as any other thought in her head. Scowling at the thought of her losing this fight, she only pulled him closer, enjoying his touch way too much.

Someone good-naturedly wolf-whistled and they broke off with a grin in the sound's general direction.

"I take back what we said about fighting too much," Rose said breathlessly, pulling him outside the Fat Lady's portrait, and kissed him enthusiastically just as they stepped outside.

* * *

One night, some six months later, she became the only girl at Hogwarts who could honestly say that she lost her virginity to Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy.

Their first and only.

* * *

**A/N:** Wheww, that one was rather exhausting. I posted the damn thing _twice_ before realizing I screwed up!!!

Righty-oh, well, anyway, I enjoyed it. I love fluffy stuff. And fics where those two fight a lot. For some reason, it makes me think of Kindergarten, when boys used to pull on girls' pigtails to get their attention :D

Thanks so much for reading guys! And thanks so much to all of the people who've subscribed or bookmarked me or added me to their favorites :D it makes me smile to open my inbox and see one from FF.

Read and Review please? I don't care if it's one words, several pages, or a single sentence that says "I'm going to murder you in your sleep if you continue to write"

Kbye!

_KitKat Pyrophobia_


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